Steroid-responsive pulmonary disorders associated with myelodysplastic syndromes with der(1q;7p) chromosomal abnormality.

We report three patients with pulmonary disorders associated with myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS). All three patients had symptoms of pyrexia and respiratory discomfort. One patient had pulmonary eosinophilia with bilateral pleural effusion, one had interstitial pneumonia, and one had bilateral pleural effusion caused by systemic vasculitis. Elevated C-reactive protein (CRP) levels, polyclonal hypergammaglobulinemia, and morphological abnormalities in peripheral blood were observed in all three patients. The bone marrow of these patients revealed trilineage dysplasia and eosinophilia. Cytogenetic analysis showed [46,XY,-7,+der(1q;7p)]. Antibiotic treatment was not effective. However, improvement was dramatic after corticosteroid treatment; CRP levels were reduced and the hypergammaglobulinemia was improved. These cases suggest that MDS with [-7,+der(1q;7p)] may be correlated with bone marrow eosinophilia and that an immunologic abnormality may be involved in the pulmonary disorders.